US Student Debt Surpasses $1 Trillion

Student debt is crushing the American dream for millions of students and college graduates. For the first time in the US, total student debt has surpassed one trillion dollars. Americans now owe more in student loans than credit card debt.This comes as unemployment among college graduates is at an all time high.

President Obama recently announced his plan to ease student loan debt, which would consolidate public student loans a better interest rate. But his plan will not help millions of Americans already drowning in debt, and it excludes private loans. Students can get into trouble with private loans because they are not protected by the government and typically have higher interest rates.

MoveOn.org has launched a petition to eliminate student debt, which has garnered nearly 650,000 signatures.

“If you put more money into the hands of people, they’re going to spend it. And that will create demand, it will create economic growth, and it will create jobs,” says Moveon.org’s Robert Applebaum, who launched the petition.